Follow the Vikings - Rune stones

"King Gorm made these runes in honour of his wife Thyra, the pride of Denmark". Such is the inscription on one of the rune stones in Jelling. Rune stones were raised by Vikings to honour loved ones'memories, to proclaim important subjects, tell stories or to brag about achievements.

History set in stone

The biggest, prettiest and most important rune stone in Denmark is also located in Jelling. It is believed that King Harald Bluetooth placed the stone here in 965. The stone praises Harald's mother and fathers' memory. It further tells how Harald has won Denmark and Norway and rules them as king. Finally it proclaims that he made the Danes Christian. On the stone a picture of Jesus was created. This picture is today used in Danish passports.

The inscription on the rune stones was made using runes. The rune alphabet only had 16 letters and for example the letters g and k was the same rune and other letters were not yet invented. With the coming of the Latin letters used today, the runes went out of fashion.

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Follow the Vikings

'Follow the Vikings' is a collection of ten small educational pieces on Vikings, published in Danish by forlagetepsilon.dk. The ten pieces are all linked with historical Viking sites in Denmark and therefore allow you to both figuratively and literally follow the Vikings.